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[voliol]

How moddable will DF be with workshop support? will people be able to change core features of the game (different farming mechanics, different combat mechanics, new systems, etc) or will it be limited to using modules already in the engine?

From what we've heard, it will be easier for mods to work together, but the extent of what's moddable hasn't changed.

[demonbunny3po]

In a Watsonian sense, how do you think a DF world gets its first anvil, given how you, in gameplay, need a forge to make an anvil... And you need an anvil to build a forge.

That is simple. A dwarf makes the First Artifact Anvil out of some other material. From there, the forging of the first regular anvil can be accomplished and sent out into the world.

[Paaaad]

In a Watsonian sense, how do you think a DF world gets its first anvil, given how you, in gameplay, need a forge to make an anvil... And you need an anvil to build a forge.

That is simple. A dwarf makes the First Artifact Anvil out of some other material. From there, the forging of the first regular anvil can be accomplished and sent out into the world.

Except to make an artifact anvil, you need a metalworking mood... Which can only be carried out at a forge, so you're back where you started.

[Egan_BW]

The world is generated with existing settlements, right? There's forges in those. Time simply begins with anvils existing already.

[Schmaven]

In a Watsonian sense, how do you think a DF world gets its first anvil, given how you, in gameplay, need a forge to make an anvil... And you need an anvil to build a forge.

That is simple. A dwarf makes the First Artifact Anvil out of some other material. From there, the forging of the first regular anvil can be accomplished and sent out into the world.

Except to make an artifact anvil, you need a metalworking mood... Which can only be carried out at a forge, so you're back where you started.

I've had a dwarf craft a bed out of gem due to a preference for beds, so maybe a preference for anvils could result in the world's first anvil, created at another workshop normally not able to produce anvils?

[Lemunde]

In a Watsonian sense, how do you think a DF world gets its first anvil, given how you, in gameplay, need a forge to make an anvil... And you need an anvil to build a forge.

Seriously though, anvils should probably made at a smelter instead of a forge. You don't "forge" anvils. You pour metal into a mold and you get an anvil, same as any metal bar. There's probably a few other objects you should be able to do this with as well, like certain types of furniture. Or maybe there needs to be a new workshop for making metal objects that use molds instead of being beaten into shape.

[Eric Blank]

Just according to Wikipedia, the first "anvils" were rocks. Apparently they could be made of bronze too. You could probably melt bronze and pour it in a stone/clay mould, and chisel off the mold. Could probably do that with iron too with 14th century technology.

It makes sense for DF technology to follow the same pattern of development through materials available as technology and understanding progress. Neolithic dwarves would bang hot copper on rocks with stone tools, make a copper hammer to further work tools, develop a mould from clay or stone to pour molten copper to forge an anvil, and then do the same for bronze, then iron and finally steel. This has just never translated to gameplay, probably because we've always had the opportunity to trade for them off the caravan if we didn't bring one on embark. But being able to use a stone boulder of hard enough material (like granite, gabbro, quartzite...), or make a clay mould for pouring a metal cast anvil, would make sense.

Currently the game doesn't start, at year zero, with Neolithic civilizations. They start out fully formed at year 1 with a settlement, and individual items like anvils probably aren't tracked at that point. They just have them.

[voliol]

Will you include earnings from the Premium version in the monthly Bay 12 Reports? It's hard to speak for others, but I know I would appreciate the transparency.

Also, if it hasn't been disclosed by this point (the start of December), will DF Classic/ASCII mode be ready at the Premium launch?

[Urist McSadist]

1.Will non grazing animals require food before magic?
2.Right now adventure mode is basically unplayable in big cities. Will we get the option to add a population cap to sites?
3.Will gods have personalities after magic?
4.What can we expect the villains to do in our forts once the Villain Update is done?

[Mr Crabman]

Will elves "tree quota" be harshened in the Steam release? Last I heard, it was still around a hundred trees, which might have been threatening/impactful when trees were only 1 tile, but it seems very easy to comply with their demands now while still getting all the wood you could want.

EDIT: nevermind, I checked the devlog like I should have in the first place and saw it has been.

[A_Curious_Cat]

Just watched the new video by Kitfox on YouTube, and I’ve got a question.  I’ve noticed that the game doesn’t pause when a smaller screen pops up.  Will it be possible to move these screens around on the screen so they don’t cover up what you don’t want them to cover up?

[Mr Crabman]

1. Might creatures (particularly forgotten beasts) made of fluid, gas or powder get buffed before the big wait? Seeing as how they're really fragile and a bit underwhelming (despite monsters like this in fantasy often being extra dangerous/hard to kill).

2. Will it be possible for off-site/worldgen combat calculations to be made more accurate at some point? Outside of the "literally viewing the battle with a second camera" thing planned for after the map rewrite, that is.

According to what I've heard from others, basically nothing factors into the outcome but combat skills, size, and the leaders tactical skills (basically none of their special abilities or comparative body material durability matters); and battles are all a sequence of 1v1s, so sheer numbers can't "overwhelm" an opponent, at best being extra dice rolls for one individual to get a lucky strike in.

3. Are animated worldmap tiles in the plans for the post-release graphics enhancements? Stuff like moving water/rivers, those "sparkles" in good aligned forests actually sparkling, "heat haze" for hot biomes, etc.

[Urist McWiddershins]

1. Will the world gen rewrite / myth and magic include constellations? Processions of the equinoxes? It would be really cool to have, say, "The Astrological age of the Shoe Cobbler end with the Cavy Pig Apocalypse, for so it was written in the beginning," for example. Also it would give all my astronomers more stuff to do

2. Climate bands *Tropics and Sub-Tropics would be very nice to have, rather than the random distribution of deserts and jungles, even if the implementation was "quick and dirty" so to speak. Any plans to include that? And trade winds? Oh I can see how this would affect boats and trade... hmmmmm....

*Since the game already has wind values based on latitude, it looks as though this was already an intended feature, but never fully implemented? I'm not sure if you intend to go the full nine yards and include axial tilt and such.

*edits for clarity

3. A recent combat log indicated that: "A forgotten beast bit off Urist McDwarfbaby's head! The part went flying in an arc!"

Infant mortality being what it is in DF, will there be artwork for dead dwarven infants / infant body parts? Or will changes have to be made now that the game is being published and distributed to a wider audience than before?

[PatrikLundell]

:
2. Climate bands would be very nice to have, rather than the random distribution of deserts and jungles, even if the implementation was "quick and dirty" so to speak. Any plans to include that? And trade winds? Oh I can see how this would affect boats and trade... hmmmmm....
:

The game does have climate zones based on latitude as long as the world has at least one pole. That's one parameter among others that decide what biome a world tile has. Thus, "normal" worlds have arctic biomes near the poles, tropical ones around the equator, and temperate ones in between. There's also fiddly logic that can create a special biome for the sub tropical region on large worlds. There's a temperature gradient adjustment reaching from the poles to the tropics, and there are seasonal temperature variations that, somewhat unexpectedly, are zero at the poles and the equator, and then rises to a maximum at the mid points between the equator and the poles.
The world generation does play with rain shadows behind mountain ranges, and there are winds based on latitude (leading to wind mills not providing any power at all at certain latitudes and half power at others.

Of course, the map rewrite will affect everything, but my guess is that it will mostly be aimed at enabling new functionality rather than implementing various tangents of its use. However, it's also intended to support various new world variations that ought to include physically plausible ones with e.g. multiple suns and moons, as well as fantasy ones with flying islands, the inside of world sized beasts, etc. I'd expect exploration of new exiting algorithms for world biome generation to be geared towards the incorporation of sphere influence rather than cosmological influences in the first pass to keep things somewhat manageable, but you never know where inspiration and side projects may pull things during the process.

[Urist McWiddershins]

I've edited my initial question for clarity. And I think I see your reasoning, though I am unsure if I agree with it, in regards to what is 'tangential.' But that's ultimately a matter of what is planned. If boats and trade weren't in the pipeline, I think I would agree more that is superfluous.

As the CDDA guy, I'm sure that you can understand the value of just a little generalization for 'future proofing' (*cough* Z-Levels *cough*)